Cake and fruit knife



Dec. 28, 1943. K, MORRls 2,338,007

CAKE AND.FRUIT KNIFE Filed April 27, 1940 Patented Dec. 28, 1943 CAKEAND FRUIT KNIFE Nathan K. Morris, Aslmry Park, N. J., assignor to JamesE. Krilow, Atlantic City, N. J.

Application April 27, 1940', Serial No. 332,120

1 Claim.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in knives and moreparticularly to a fruit and cake knife molded of a plastic material andthe primary object of the invention resides in the provision ofadeviceof this character which may be molded in one piece and which is ofsuch material as will permit rigidity when the device is used forcutting purposes but which has sufficient flexibility otherwise towithstand lateral pressures and bend without break- A further object ofthe invention resides in molding the knife of a plastic material, theblade of which is provided with openings to permit juices of fruits toflow therethro-ugh or air to pass therethrough when the knife is usedfor cutting cake.

A still further object of the invention resides in molding the knife ofa plastic material which is not subject to acid stains or corrosion andwhich is of a character sufliciently strong to avoid chipping.

A still further object resides in the formation of a handle for theknife which is constructed and designed to be readily grasped to preventslipping or twisting when used.

A still further object is the provision of means in the blade of a knifefor preventing crumbling of material, displacement of material, andsurface rupture in the faces of the material as the knife separates oneface from another.

With these and numerous other objects in View, my invention consists inthe novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of partsas will be hereinafter referred to and more particularly pointed out inthe specification and claim.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application- Figure 1is a perspective view of a knife constructed in accordance with myinvention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof, partly in section;

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section therethrough as seen on theline 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a similar View as seen on the line 4-4 of Figure 1; and

Fig. 5 represents an enlarged detail section of a portion of thesectional showing of Fig. 2.

In describing the invention, I shall refer to the drawing in whichsimilar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views and in which the numeral l represents the blade andthe numeral 2 the handle of my improved knife, which is molded in onepiece of a plastic transparent material. shown in Figure 4, the blade Iis tapered toward its cutting edge 3, the latter being serrated orotherwise toothed for obvious purposes. The faces of the blade 2 arealso tapered at the upper portions thereof, as shown by the numeral 6providing a fine edge 5, which may, if desired, be used for certaintypes of cutting. Likewise, the faces of the blade are tapered at theirouter ends as shown by the numeral t. This provides a more or less sharpforward end to the blade which is particularly useful in the cutting offruits. As shown in Figure 1, the cutting edge 3 is arcuately shaped, atthe front end, this arcuate formation being designated by the numeral 1.

' For the purpose of preventing juices from squirting outwardly whencutting fruit and for producing a smooth face on a slice of cake orother edible material as the knife severs a slice from the body of thematerial, the blade I is provided with a series of through holes 8arranged as a row longitudinally of the blade and approximately alongthe medial portion of the blade. The respective walls of these holes arepreferably convex for a purpose later described.

Adjacent this row of holes 8 are two rows of recesses 9, one at eachside of the blade and disposed between the holes and the cutting edge 3of the blade. Each of the recesses 9 is substantially triangular inshape and arranged with its apex pointing toward the cutting edge 3. Thebase of each recess communicates with a hole 8 and thus by reason of theconvex sloping walls of the recess, a reverse funnel effect is createdwhereby fruit juices or cake crumbs are directed into a hole 8. Thuseach hole 8 communicates with a pair of recesses 9 at opposite sidesrespectively of the blade so that both faces of the material can berelieved of a vacuum or other disturbing influence. In effect each hole8 forms a storage space for juices or cake crumbs, which in the case ofjuices minimizes undesirable squirting and gushing of the juices, andpermits thin uniform slices of the fruit. In the case of cake, the holes8 act as clearances to receive any crumbs resulting from a slicingstroke and which crumbs can be pressed out of the holes by the front andrear walls of the holes, and then smoothed into the face of the slice orcake body by the smooth blade face between each pair of holes.Furthermore, the holes allow air to flow through the blade so thatcrumbling of the cake surface is materially reduced. Also the recesses 9increase the effective air area and reduce the face area of the bladebetween the holes and the cutting edge 3, so that adhering or stickingof the material to the blade is practically eliminated. Thus in both theholes and the recesses means are provided which allow crumbs topenetrate the blade and from which location they can be propelledoutwardly according to the direction of knife stroke and then be ironedback into the cake by the smooth areas of the blade between the holes orthe recesses. This outward propulsion of the crumbs is facilitated bythe convex faces bound- I ing the holes, and the sloping faces of therecesses.

The handle 2 of this knife is molded thicker than the blade, of course,and a juncture between the blade and the handle is represented by anoutwardly tapered portion ill. Formed on each side of the handle 2 andextending longitudinally thereof for almost the entire length thereof isthe groove H, from which extend outwardly and diagonally the ridged orshouldered portions I2, forming finger grips. The edges of the handlemember are compoundly curved as shown by the numeral l8, which edgeslead to the ridged portions l2 and thus the handle is provided withmeans for firmly gripping the same to prevent slipping or twistingthereof when in use.

The blade and handle, as heretofore stated, are molded in one piece andformed of a plastic material which preferably is transparent. Thismaterial will have sufhcient rigidity to enable the same to be used forcutting fruit and cake effectively, but the blade has sufficientflexibility to be flexed readily when pressed from the side facesthereof. To this extent, the same may be said to be non-chipping andbeing of plastic material, the same is not subject to acid stains orcorrosion, such as would be true of metal knives. The blade being formedwith openings therein, as aforesaid, will enable the device to be usedin the cutting of cake and fruit rapidly, without the danger of theblade adhering to the cake to upset the clean cutting thereof.

From the foregoing description of the construction of my improved knife,the usefulness and the effectiveness thereof will be readily understood.It will be seen that I have provided a simple, inexpensive and efficientmeans for carrying out the various objects of the invention, and while Ihave described the elements best adapted to perform the functions setforth, it is obvious that various changes in form, proportion and in theminor details of construction may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

A knife molded from plastic material comprising a blade having two sidefaces tapering to a cutting edge, said blade having a plurality ofthrough holes and each face having a plurality of tapered multisidedconcave recesses communicating respectively with said holes and twosides of each converging toward said edge, whereby alternate recessesand smooth surfaces are provided to guide crumbs into said holes on boththe forward and backward stroke of the knife with a resulting smoothingaction by said surfaces.

NATHAN K. MORRIS.

